First swine flu vaccines are ready to go

Vaccine producer Baxter International, Inc., says it’s finished its first batch of pandemic H1N1 vaccine and is figuring out distribution plans with the five national health authorities that ordered it.

The U.S. isn’t due to receive any of the 80 million vaccine doses that Baxter will eventually produce this year, according to Reuters. But other manufacturers, including Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, are making progress on vaccines of their own. Immunization could begin in some countries as early as next month.